photo Archives

Tech that rescues your family lore

Kim Komando via Remini

That’s my dad in the photo. I used a tool called Remini (more about it below) to sharpen and enhance the image. Pretty amazing, right? The original is on the left, and the clearer, AI-upgraded version is on the right.

I bet you probably have boxes (or albums or old hard drives) full of family photos, some faded, some scratched and some that never made it past black and white. But here’s the thing, they’re priceless. They’re time machines. And right now, they’re just degrading.

That’s where tech comes in, and the tools out there now are incredible. You can bring your old photos back to life with just a few taps. I’m talking full color, restored detail, even animation.

Here are my favorites. PSA: You’ll find both free and paid plans.

🧙‍♂️ Deep Nostalgia

This one gives me chills (in a good way). Upload a portrait, say your grandfather in uniform, your great-grandmother as a child, and it animates the photo. They blink, smile and move gently like they’re in a video.

It’s eerie. It’s beautiful. And it’s something you’ll want to share with your family.

🔗 myheritage.com/deep-nostalgia.

✨ Remini

This AI app sharpens old, blurry or grainy photos with stunning results. It works wonders on faces, smoothing out noise, brightening eyes and making even out-of-focus shots look camera-ready.

🔗 https://app.remini.ai

🌈 Colorize

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These tech tips will make you too powerful

ChatGPT

When you’re the tech-savvy friend, it’s basically your job to fix everything that plugs in. Who saves the saviors? Me! Now, depending on your OS, model, updates and general tech karma, your screen might not match mine exactly. Don’t panic, just keep moving forward. You’ve got this!

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I found your next favorite gadgets

🧠 Upgrading your tech game shouldn’t melt your brain (or your wallet).

🔌 Running out of ports? Plug in a five-in-one USB-C hub (50% off). Whoa, 4.6 stars and 185,000+ reviews!

🖼️ Memories on a loop: Printing pics? Send ’em straight to this digital photo frame (14% off).

🐶 Fetch this steal: Keep tabs on your doggo 24/7 and fling treats with a 360° dog camera (56% off).

📱 Hands-free & wireless: This phone stand & speaker combo (25% off) is perfect for video calls with the family.

🎧 No quits: Play all the time with this wireless gaming headset (15% off). Up to 100 hours of battery life.

⚡ More power-ups: Tap this secret link for more tech deals. My Amazon storefront is packed with the best sales.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Make a Father’s Day card with AI

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Ditch the cheesy store cards. Use ChatGPT to turn your favorite photo into a custom keepsake.

Woz-not-Woz: Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak went on CBS to warn about fake videos of him promoting Bitcoin. The scam clips promise to double whatever BTC you send. The funny part? While telling the story, CBS showed a fake 1970s “Woz in his garage” photo, which turned out to be of a Disney animatronic. Awkward.

$182

The cost of having Taylor Swift-approved posture. The Power Bra pulls your shoulders back and your bank account forward. Yes, it’s FDA-registered and HSA-eligible, but the real endorsement came from a grainy Eras Tour photo.

📱 iOS 26: The Camera app’s been fully redesigned. At the bottom, everything revolves around two main buttons: Video and Photo. Swipe left from Video for capture modes like Slo-Mo, or right from Photo for modes like Portrait. Once you’ve picked a mode, swipe up for options like Flash and other controls.

📱 iOS 26: The new Photos app can turn a regular 2D picture into one with a 3D effect. Open a photo, tap the Spatial button under the ellipses icon, then hit Share > Use as Wallpaper. Tap the Spatial button again. Now when you lock and wake your phone, your wallpaper will pop with a 3D effect. Super cool.

🖼️ Convert HEIC to JPEG on Mac: Photos from your iPhone are often saved as HEIC, which keeps quality high and file size small. The catch? Not everyone can open them. To convert, just drag the photo out of the Photos app and drop it onto your desktop. It’ll automatically copy as a JPEG.

🗂️ Show file extensions in Windows: By default, Windows hides the suffixes at the end of file names (like .jpeg, .mp4 or .exe). You’ll want these visible, so you don’t accidentally open a malicious file that looks like a photo but is actually an executable. To turn them on, open File Explorer > View > Show > File name extensions.

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That’s how many skeletons were found fully intact in Israel’s Tinshemet Cave. Hands clasped like they were posing for a burial photo shoot, they looked eerily peaceful for being 100,000 years dead. Archaeologists still aren’t sure what species they were (Homo sapiens, Neanderthal or Android users), but one thing’s clear: Someone buried them like they mattered.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Set a custom wallpaper on your Echo Show: Use the Alexa app > Devices > Echo Show > Photo Display > Family pics > Stock art.

Resize Quick Notes on iPad: Need more space to read or jot something down? When a Quick Note is open, pinch outward with two fingers (just like zooming in on a photo) to make it bigger. To shrink it again, pinch inward. You can also drag it to any corner and keep working in your app.

Lost and found: Accidentally deleted a photo or video on your Mac? Don’t panic. Open your Photos app and click Recently Deleted in the sidebar. Find your lost file and hit Recover. You have 30 days to get it back. Btw, if you never looked there, do it now.

Taking a group shot? Don’t just snap one photo (someone’s always blinking or looking away). Hold down your phone’s camera button to use Burst mode, which takes a bunch of pics in seconds. This gives you a better chance of capturing everyone at their best. Neat.

Unblur that photo: AI image upscalers can sharpen your fuzzy pics, but they’re not all reliable or safe. DGB.LOL is a collection of tools that keeps your uploads private and deletes them from its servers after 24 hours. It’s free, too. Score.

From crayon to canvas: Bring your child’s sketch to life with a little AI magic. Just upload a pic to ChatGPT (or your favorite bot), and say, “This is a photo of my child’s drawing of a [describe it]. Turn it into a digital illustration in a [watercolor, cartoon, etc.] style.” Boom, instant keepsake.

How to make AI headshots

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70 percent of hiring pros reject candidates over a bad photo. With AI tools, you can whip up a pro pic in minutes.

$1 million

A rare photo of Abraham Lincoln might sell for that at auction. The pic was made between 1895 and 1900 using an original negative from 1860. Bidding starts at $250,000 and kicks off today at 10 a.m. ET. I’ll never forget when I told my son to get off his Xbox and said, “When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he used to walk 10 miles every day to get to school.” Ian responded, “Really? Well, when he was your age, he was president.” Kids.

💔 Tinder swindler alert: A Portland woman lost over $40,000 after falling for a scammer she met on the app. They talked for a week before he asked for money, saying he had no family to help, sealing the con with a fake photo of himself in a hospital bed. Tinder’s basically a financial thriller with worse dialogue than a Lifetime movie.